Latest news with #MarcusLapsa
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Two Coventry councillors move to Reform from Conservatives
Two Coventry city councillors have defected from the Conservative party and joined Reform Lapsa and Jackie Gardiner said the Tory party had changed and they felt "let down by so many broken promises".Westwood councillor Lapsa and Sherbourne councillor Gardiner said they believed Nigel Farage's party had the answers to the biggest problems facing the group leader Gary Ridley said their defection was a "huge betrayal of people in Sherbourne and Westood who voted to have Conservative representation". Addressing them in an interview with BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire, he said: "You should stand in a by-election, resign your seat and stand under your new banner and give the people of those wards a say over who they're represented by."They're being denied their vote."Lapsa, who has represented Westwood since 2008, said he had joined Reform "because both Labour and the Conservatives have failed our country on a massive scale". "Councils across the country are no longer able to deliver for local residents," he added, citing issues with bin collections and who has represented Sherbourne since 2022, said she had joined the party "because of their determination to uphold British culture, identity, and values". Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
13-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Coombe Abbey hotel 'viable' despite 'poor performance'
A council-owned hotel is "viable" despite criticisms of its financial performance, the boss of a firm that manages authority investments has City Council bought Coombe Abbey for a reported £9.1m in 2017, but in 2023 the BBC reported the business had lost almost £3m in two years and was worth just £ opposition councillor Marcus Lapsa has told a council meeting the hotel company, Coombe Abbey Park Ltd, was worth just £100,000 in March Grant McKelvie, the director of Coventry Municipal Holdings, accepted the market was "not the easiest", but said exciting plans were in place for the four-star hotel. Members of the ruling Labour group have historically claimed the hotel will bring around a 10% a scrutiny meeting last week, Conservative councillor Julia Lepoidevin quizzed officials on the Grade I listed hotel's future. "With such poor financial performance of the hotel, are there proposals to refurbish and where would the funding come from if a decision on that was made?," she said."If a private company could not make the hotel succeed why do we think we can and when can we see it really succeed?"Mr McKelvie said they had started to see in the last couple of years where some areas of the hotel are "slightly tired" and that a "significant" programme of work was taking place, starting with its ground added there were plans to refurbish bedrooms and, while this was "incredibly expensive", it would be funded from hotel revenues, with proposals being "priced up and looked at." 'Opportunity to perform better' Mr McKelvie told the meeting the hotel was viable, confirming accountants had signed it off as a going concern, and was returning a "viable response" back to the council as an added: "There's obviously opportunity for it to be able to perform better but we're operating in a market that's not the easiest when it comes to individuals, customers' willingness to spend in that market and the cost base that we have in operating a Grade I-listed building." Asked when the council will start getting dividends from the hotel, he said this was commercially confidential but could be discussed at a later private meeting with councillors in said a shareholder meeting later this month will include more detail on how the businesses benefit the city beyond financial accounts. "There are costs that we have within all of the businesses that are returned to the council through other routes such as rent and loan repayments and those sorts of things," he said. Chief financial officer Barry Hastie told councillors the hotel brings the council over £200,000 per year – double what it was before they took ownership. He said there were a number of reasons for the council buying the hotel, including protecting its financial stake and a heritage Hastie also pointed out the impact of the pandemic and cost of living crisis on the hospitality industry, and said the hotel had never missed a loan or rental payment. Officers confirmed that six of the hotel's direct competitors in the region had gone into administration in the last few years. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.
